One of the interesting parts of the job of a fleet manager is that he has to juggle between different roles. In the spirit of managing things, you may often find a fleet manager has to cope up with various sets of challenges. These challenges come across the path in the routine life of all the transporters worldwide. However, what sets some of the fleet businesses special and different from others is their ability to make use of vehicle fleet tracking management systems.
Application of the vehicle fleet management systems creates a world of difference or fleet businesses. Its importance in the modern-day scenario can be highlighted from the fact that the telematics market is expected to become a $5.93 billion industry by 2025.
This brings us to the question of what makes the usage of the vehicle management systems so prominent and important? To answer this question, let us first try to understand what does it mean by vehicle fleet tracking? Further, we will explore the reasons how do these vehicle management systems fit well into the broader scheme of vehicle fleet management.
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What is vehicle fleet management?
Vehicle fleet management, in simple words, can be defined as the activity of managing the various activities of a commercial vehicle fleet. Here two words need to be specially highlighted – ‘commercial’ & ‘fleet.’ Hence the practices of fleet management revolve around catering to the needs of the commercial vehicle owners with the fleet of their vehicles.
The solutions for vehicle fleet management are determined to cater to the needs of commercial vehicle owners who maintain the fleet of vehicles. With the practices of vehicle fleet management, one performs the set of functions that are to be performed routinely in running a fleet business.
The fleet manager’s life is filled with the persistent need for managing the all-around performance of its fleet. Coupled with this are the challenges that come along their way in pursuing their job. Challenges like vehicle breakdowns and accidents can seriously deter the health of a fleet business. The likes of the other challenges such as information overload, lack of information, misinformation, inability to handle problematic geography or route, and others also play a considerable part in challenging the performance of any fleet business. These challenges have traditionally dominated the industry. Dealing with these challenges can have a telling effect on the operations and performance of any fleet business. This is where the role of the vehicle management systems has an important part to play in the life of the fleet managers.
What are vehicle fleet management systems?
Vehicle fleet management systems are the systems that make use of technology in performing the function of vehicle fleet management. The fleet management systems are the solutions built with the encompassing need for performing various vehicle management functions. These systems provide visibility and infuse accountability in the day-to-day operations of fleet business. The vehicle management solutions harness the power of technology in providing solutions that are flexible with the needs of any fleet.
The role of vehicle management systems in fleet management is of massive importance. Fleet managers can churn the advantages of using fleet management systems in bringing effectiveness to their fleet business. These systems provide much strength and value to both the general and specific requirements of the fleet.
Benefits of the vehicle fleet management system
The application of the vehicle management solutions helps the fleet managers instill the best fleet management practices. The impact of the vehicle management systems can enrich the fleet owner’s experience by monitoring their vehicle’s movements in real-time ( i.e., as and when the vehicles are moving). In this manner, vehicle fleet management systems help the business have hands-on real-time actionable solutions. Fleet managers are hence facilitated in this manner to take impromptu decisions while the vehicles are in the movement stage. As a fleet manager, you can track the route taken by any vehicle, starting time and stoppage time of any vehicle, the number of times any vehicle has taken any steps, and others. Here is the list of some of the key benefits of making the application of vehicle fleet management solutions.
- One of the most significant advantages of the application of vehicle fleet management solutions is that they provide data-driven insights into the performance of your vehicles. Not only this, the intelligent systems of these solutions provide the fleet managers with timely reports. In this manner, fleet managers can get help on various crucial aspects such as maintenance, repairs, and fuel usage.
- Improving the performance of the drivers is one of the other important parts of the job of the fleet manager. The fleet managers have the accountability of the overall practices performed by their business. It is thus an important responsibility of the fleet managers to ensure that their drivers maintain the quality of service for the business. The fleet managers are expected to keep track of the performance of their drivers. Further, they must discover the scope of the improvement in the driving behavior of the drivers. All this can be achieved with the help of vehicle fleet tracking solutions. With the help of these solutions, fleet managers can observe the driving trends and patterns of their drivers. Further, this can help with the responsibility of assigning the tasks to their drivers. Hence, vehicle fleet management solutions ensure to improve the performance of their drivers to improve the overall performance of the fleet. Further, these solutions help in ensuring that achieved levels of quality are sustained to achieve consistent results.
- Another major advantage of vehicle fleet management systems is that they help the business imbibe safe and secure practices. With the application of the vehicle management systems, you can view several safety metrics such as – the number of times any vehicle has over accelerated, the number of times any vehicle has applied harsh acceleration, the number of times any vehicle has indulged in harsh cornering, and others. Ensuring the safe practices of fleet management helps the businesses to bring into fruition their objectives and goals.
Achieving best practices of vehicle fleet management with vehicle management solutions
Adding to the list of the benefits, the following is the manner in which the application of the vehicle management systems allows fleet managers to achieve best practices of vehicle management:
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Helps in handling fuel price volatility
We all know how volatile the prices of fuels have become these days. To keep the vehicles up and running has proved out to be a costly affair with the constant hikes in prices of fuel. It is where the solutions of vehicle management systems shine to help managers assail the rising tides of fuel prices. The solutions of vehicle management systems help in bringing down the wastage of resources with increased visibility of operations. The vehicle management systems make it economical for the business to increase their productivity. Abnormal activities like unnecessary vehicle idling and fuel theft can be taken care of with the application of vehicle management systems. In addition to this, businesses can instill good driving habits with the help of these systems, which brings down the usage of fuel. Along with this, some of the best vehicle management systems come with the functionality of providing fuel analytics which gives insights about reducing the expenditure of fuel.
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Reducing carbon emission for sustainable practices
The low usage and fuel ultimately lead to reduced levels of carbon emission from the vehicles. This is particularly beneficial with the given fact that emission norms are getting stricter with each day passing. This allows the organizations to achieve their targets of sustainability. To top this, some of the hi-tech vehicle fleet management systems have the feature of tracking the levels of emission made by each vehicle in the fleet. The other way the vehicle management systems help achieve this objective is by ensuring the optimal level of maintenance of every vehicle. This helps in reducing emissions by keeping the vehicles in healthy condition. The function of route optimization offered by vehicle management also plays a contributing role in this respect. By eliminating the scope of wastage in terms of distance traveled and time is taken by vehicles to cover a trip, the need for achieving the reduced emission can be achieved.
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Increasing the safety of drivers and vehicles in a fleet
Having a safe and secure fleet is hence one of the most fundamental requirements that ensure that businesses achieve sustainable goals that realize both short-term and long-term goals. Fleet businesses with this can ensure that their vehicles remain in healthy condition by adopting safe practices. Further, from the strategic point of view, ensuring the fleet’s safety is very important to uphold and maintain the integrity and goodwill of any fleet business.
To sum it up
Application of the vehicle fleet management systems is critical with the prospects of managing your fleet. With vehicle management in place, businesses can smoothen their experience of managing their fleet. Further, with the application of vehicle management solutions, fleet tracking businesses can uncover their reasons for success. With the help of vehicle management solutions. Fleet-tracking businesses can proactively optimize their various areas of operations. The application of fleet tracking solutions helps fleet businesses to imbibe the best practices of fleet tracking. The impact of vehicle management solutions in the fleet tracking industry has proved out to be revolutionary. Using these systems can help your fleet tracking business succeed in bringing growth to your business.
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